Mold/fungus? How to get rid of it? Also, plant ID!
Comments (14)
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoPosting your pics:
Here's some pictures of it from this summer:
{{gwi:1191936}}
Pictures of my now sick little plant:
(The "front"-same side as the pictures above)
(A branch that was in the back- it's been dead since before I bought this plant; I kind of liked the way it looked from the front view, but finally decided that it was time to cut it off. You can see the fuzz on this branch)
(Fuzz on live branches)
(More fuzz on living branches-somewhat blurry picture)You may want to put a link to this thread in the bonsai or house plant forum to get a more full range of info. This forum doesn't deal much with container plants. Your plant looks fine to me (although it looks like there are issues starting to develop with the soil,) but it's probably time to do some bonsai maintenance stuff that I know nothing about.
Windnose
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Mold/fungus? How to get rid of it? Also, plant ID!
Comments (1)My first suggestion would be hydrogen peroxide. Get the topical strength (3%) from the walmart pharmacy section, should be able to find it already in a handy spray bottle. Just spray it on the plant directly, no need to mix or water it down. Even young seedlings can withstand up to about 10% concentration of H2O2, but it will kill molds and fungi quite readily....See Morehow do I get rid of this fungus amongus
Comments (6)It's called Powdery Mildew - had lots of rain lately? Overhead watering? Too much shade? A fungicide will help control but not eliminate it. Organic methods of control including spraying with potassium bicarbonate with a small amount of vegetable oil added. If you can't find K bicarb you can sub baking soda but it isn't as effective. 1 T baking soda in 1 quart of water and add 1 tsp light vege oil, shake well and lightly mist the affected leaves. Avoid spraying in the heat of the day or in bright sunshine. Again, only a control, not a preventative. The only real preventative I know of is using resistant varieties. Most important - increasing the sun exposure as much as possible. Good luck. ;) Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Powdery Mildew...See MoreMold/fungus? How to get rid of it? Also, plant ID!
Comments (6)Thank you for telling me what kind of plant this is! :D Such a pretty name too! My mom has been watering it; she says she has been watering it heavily once a week. That shouldn't be enough to cause over-watering, should it? The fukien tea has been next to my healthy fig for the past several months; I read that scale insects love figs, so even if I somehow missed a scale when looking the fukien tea over, I'd imagine my fig would be showing signs of sickness. I think scale can be ruled out, thankfully. As for mites, there was a spiderweb underneath that lower horizontal section of the trunk. Or rather, I *thought* it was a spiderweb, but now I'm not so sure. Some of the dead leaves were hanging from the branches by some sort of very thin string-like material (at the time, I assumed it was cat hair or some other thing that shouldn't cause worry) that could've easily been single strands of a web. I did destroy the web. I'll keep a close eye out for any more webs and the mites themselves. Is there anything you can recommend me doing if this is mites?...See MoreIs this fungus, how do I get rid of it?
Comments (11)Right, Christine, Tradescantia zebrina. It DOES look good. "So your recommendation is, don't add anything in it, not even water for about a month and see how it goes?" Not really, just to let it get fairly dry before adding more water. That could be tomorrow or next month, and not particular advice to this plant, just to any plant in store-bought potting soil, especially during the cooler, shorter days of winter. Monet, it could be salt buildup, just looks kind of fuzzy. You raise a good point about allowing water to drip out though, not sit in the saucer, to help avoid that situation. Sitting by a cool window and/or blasts of hot dry air can be difficult for plants. Something to consider if they start looking poorly. Stirring things up with a fork might be a little drastic at this point, possibly causing more harm to roots than good from adding a little air. This plant looks fine. If you get the gut feeling to do something like that in the future, a skewer might be less dangerous, kind of stick it in, pry up slightly, maybe a little wiggle. If your plant is drying out in a reasonable amount of time, and looking fine, I wouldn't engage in such unorthodox measures. It's good that you're not afraid to 'get in there' though. At some point it'll be a good idea to remove the old soil from the pot and around the roots and replace it with new. Trimming a few roots at that time, if they are really long and/or curled around the pot, would be a good idea. When days are longer & warmer, it's easier for plants to recover so this is most often done in late spring/early summer, before it gets too hot....See MoreTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
11 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
11 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoI agree - the soil is simply inappropriate - especially so because of the shallowness of the pot, which require very coarse soils to ensure plants any kind of opportunity to approach their potential growth and vitality levels. At container capacity, the soil pictured is undoubtedly 100% saturated, and remains so until the water evaporates or is used by the plant. Since the saturated conditions compound the problem by making it difficult for the plant to absorb water, the plant is dying of thirst in a sea of plenty, shedding leaves actually as a drought response, with it's only salvation being what regeneration of roots it can manage as the soil begins to dry down.
In addition, saturated soil conditions quickly kill fine roots. The plant then has to expend valuable energy to regenerated those roots, energy that would otherwise have gone into growth or properly fueling the plants metabolism.
Using a wick in one drain hole (there are 2?) & tilting the pot steeply toward that hole after watering until the pot stops draining would help a LOT, but the key really is to use a more appropriate soil.
Here is what I use for all my bonsai, pre-bonsai woody material, and houseplants:
Windnose
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agotoxcrusadr
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoliz2525
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoscorpman1
10 years agolast modified: 9 years agoscorpman1
10 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)